About 20 residents in Ward 10 under Umdoni Municipality are occupying the Scottburgh town hall illegally.
This occurred after they were evicted from privately owned land in Park Rynie on April 29.
The municipality has since made the Malangeni and Umzinto community halls available for the evicted residents, however they do not want to move into these halls.
Ward 10 councillor Edwin Baptie, told Fever that in 2018 the owner of the land got a court order to evict the residents.
Baptie added that the court order was then challenged by the municipality on the basis that it named the municipality as being responsible for finding alternative accommodation for residents.
He said the court order was amended to rescind the clause which then absolved the municipality from any involvement since it was a tenant and landlord issue.
“In 2020, the court order could not proceed because of the lockdown regulations and these residents have been kept informed and were told constantly that they were living there illegally, and that they have to find accommodation otherwise they will eventually be evicted. Now that the regulations have changed after lockdown, the court order became effective and they went back to the tenants to inform them that their time was up,” said Baptie.
He added that the residents had made no attempts since 2018 to find alternative accommodation.
Baptie said he also suspects that the residents were also subjected to some political interference, adding that some councillors asked them not to move, promising them that they will make sure that they will stay on that land.
He added that after he made an appeal to the municipality’s Special Executive Committee (Exco) for housing for the evicted residents in the Malangeni and Umzinto community halls, the residents rejected that offer.
The councillor added that he gave up on the residents after they occupied the Scottburgh town hall illegally.
“They took it upon themselves with a certain councillor to move into the town hall. We were providing them with water and meals while we were looking for alternative places for them to stay but now that they are occupying the hall illegally, I unfortunately, cannot continue supporting them in terms of my code of conduct. Some of them found accommodation, some moved to an informal settlement and the remaining 20 residents are in the town hall,” said Baptie.
He added that Exco also resolved to approach the KZN Department of Human Settlements for temporary residential units.
As far as I know, added Baptie, there has not been a response for this request from human settlements as yet.
“What I have heard from officials is that it is very unlikely because the department does not have the resources even to deal with all the flood victims. So, it is unlikely that they are going to put a flood victim out of a home because someone else did not find themselves a home,” said Baptie.
Meanwhile, Umdoni Municipality spokesperson, Sphelele Cele confirmed that the utilisation of halls was not welcomed by the evictees.
“Some families are currently utilising the Scottburgh Town Hall as their temporary residence while matters pertaining to their eviction and relocation are being addressed. The aggrieved evictees refuse to accept non-occupancy of this land (in Park Rynie) regardless of numerous eviction notices over the years. We sympathise with the affected people and as the municipality, we hope there will be a positive outcome for all parties involved,” said Umdoni mayor Sibongile Khathi.
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